


Manhunt-A Phanfic

by NoRestForTheWickedFic



Category: Phan
Genre: BoyxBoy, M/M, Missing, Multi, Mystery, Phanfiction, dissapearance, literally half the OCs are just my friends irl, sims as characters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-08
Updated: 2017-02-20
Packaged: 2018-09-22 19:33:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9622472
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NoRestForTheWickedFic/pseuds/NoRestForTheWickedFic
Summary: One fateful day, Phil Lester went missing. It became a lost cause for authorities and friends alike. With no sign of his whereabouts or his kidnapper, he was presumed dead a month later. After all attempts to find him proved futile, Dan decided he had had enough and went searching...That was the last anyone saw from Dan Howell.Ten years later, a band of orphans take the unsolved mystery as a challenge. Dil, Tabitha, and Eliza vanish from the children's home in Willow Creek and go on a "quest" to find Dan and Phil. But their naivety may prove their demise as they discover what truly killed the British boys and what disastrous consequences their investigation causes.





	1. Prologue-End of Eras

Dan stepped off of the crumbling pavement. This was it. He was going to find Phil. The puddles that speckled the clearing soaked into Dan’s shoes. In the darkness, he spotted a figure shuffling towards him. After all this time, he was right. Everyone had pleaded with him, saying Phil was dead and that he should stop before he got himself killed. Not once did he believe them.

The fading moonlight illuminated the gaunt face of the figure. Raggedy black hair had grown to cover one of his electric blue eyes. Dan couldn’t tell if the figure had seen him in the predawn light. He waved his arms and cried, “Phil! It’s me, Dan! I’ve come to bring you back.” The shuffling figure broke out into a run. 

A voice rang out in the distance, “Dan-”

The second Dan recognized the voice, it was too late. Phil had crumpled to the ground, clutching his stomach. 

“Phil!’ Dan screamed, tearing through the field. He lifted Phil’s broken body from the grass, staining his hands a sickly crimson. Phil managed a cough and sprayed Dan’s face with a mist of blood. Dan wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. It only smeared further across his face.

“I-I’m sorry,” Phil whispered, “For everything…”

“Phil, no,” Dan insisted, “It’s not your fault.” He cradled his dying friend in his arms. Phil shook his head.

“Dan,” he said, his voice reduced to a raspy hiss, “He’s coming for you… I’m sorry…” A sick feeling settled in Dan’s stomach. He looked up, but saw no one. Something was very wrong. 

“Who’s ‘he’?” Dan could feel Phil’s blood soaking into his black jeans. 

“I don’t know, but-” Phil paused, as if predicting how much time he had left. Finally, he stuttered, “I l-love you, Dan…” Unknown to the pair, another figure approached in the darkness. This one was different as it walked in careful and methodical steps. 

“Phil, I… I love you, too, but, I just never thought you’d go out like this.” Dan cast his eyes to the ground beside him. The puddles that covered the ground were no longer clear but crimson.

“Dan, I see something… I think,” Phil was staring blankly at the slate gray sky. 

“What is it, Phil?”

“I see… light…”

In this one instance, Dan failed to see the irony. But that was because he heard a click near his left ear. His eyes slowly turned to see what had made the noise. 

A low, calculated voice asked, “What do you see?”

Dan replied, “Darkness…”

The voice grew closer to his ear and continued, “What do you hope to see?”

“Phil Lester.”

“Good, you will.”

A blast echoed through the clearing, but fell upon dead ears. Dan’s body slackened and slammed to the grass. A stream of crimson exited his mouth. His eyes remained stuck wide open, looking for the light.


	2. Chapter 1-Those Left Behind

A small, white vehicle pulled into the driveway of a house-like establishment. A woman stepped out of the car and onto the crumbling driveway. She looked to the office window and found a cross lady glaring down at her. She was late, again, but this didn’t worry Olivia Jenkins. While the administration may always cast a harsh glance, the children adored her. She entered the establishment, under the doorway marked, “Willow Creek Children’s Home.” On her way in, she passed a co-worker, Samantha Rowe. Sam looked rather frustrated over something.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Olivia asked.

Then came Sam’s deadpan response, “Tabitha’s on the roof… again.”

“Again?”

“You’d be surprised,” Sam turned away from her friend and towards the door. She let out a heavy sigh. Walking around the establishment, she craned her neck to spot Tabitha. The teenage girl was seated on the edge of the curved roof, playing with a plastic dinosaur. Another note about the roof; it looked a giant slide, which caused the children to call it, “The Owl Slide.” This was usually attributed to Dil, Tabitha’s self-proclaimed best friend. Much to Sam’s surprise, he was seated beside Tabitha on the roof. Before she said anything, she merely shook her head in annoyance.

“Tabitha Caspar!” Sam shouted, startling the teen out of her imaginative daze. Dil inched away, only causing Sam to add, “Dil!” Dil sheepishly returned to his spot next to Tabitha. Sam beckoned for them to follow her inside. “You both are 16,” she began, “You have two more years left here, until you are sent into the outside world. And what do you do with that precious time? Sit on roofs… I’m disappointed in you. If you’re doing this now, what will be doing in two years? Or with your life? I know this sounds heavy, but it’s something you need to think about. I’m sorry we haven’t been able to do more for you.”

Dil raised a shaky hand and said, “Does solving mysteries count as a job?”

Sam sighed and opened the door, “This isn’t the Hardy Boys, Dil.”

“But it’s real… and important and it’s-”

Tabitha put her hand on Dil’s shoulder, “Is it about your adoptive parents? You shouldn’t think about that so much…”

\--*--  
The girl was right, the story of his adoptive parents seemed to be from a romantic comedy gone horribly wrong. Over a decade previously, two men walked into the children’s home asking if they could adopt a child. A teenager sat behind the desk, typing something on a desktop. One of the men, who wore a graphic t-shirt and some black jeans, was feverishly tapping the bell. He looked amused, but the other, who was dressed from head to toe in black, merely shook his head. The teenager looked up and began, “I’m Samantha Rowe, how can I… help… you?”

The man in black spoke up. “Um.. y-yeah. Are there adoptions here?” The other man, which Sam assumed was his partner, kept poking the bell. “Phil, stop!” Phil turned and laughed, hastily adding, “Sorry. I’m Phil, he’s Dan. Can we adopt a kid?” Dan mumbled something under his breath. It seemed that he wasn’t the social type. Sam sat with her mouth open, as if she had lost her voice.

Suddenly, she sprung up and fell back into routine. “Can I have your identification?” Phil dug into his pocket, while Sam rolled her chair back to find the forms. She returned, read the information on the card, and said, pointing to Dan, “His too.”

Dan reluctantly approached the desk and placed his card beside Phil’s. A dull roar echoed through the hall, along with the pattering of little feet. In a second, Dan found a little boy clinging to his leg. Another child, this one an ebony-haired girl, was reaching for Dil with one hand and holding a plastic dinosaur with the other.

“C’mon! We’re going to playtime!” she grumbled.

Dan found himself too surprised to do anything. Phil smiled and turned to Sam, seemingly discussing the forms. The little boy looked up at Dan, hopefully. “Hi,” he beamed, “Are you gonna adopt one of us?” Dan attempted to pry the boy off his leg.

“You might just get lucky,” Dan replied, with a broad smile. The boy scurried away, giggling. Turning back to Sam, Dan asked, “What was that boy’s name?”

The teen shrugged, “He doesn’t have one, but the other children call him Sim.”

“Sim?”

“None of us really understood it, but-”

Phil cut her off, “Can we name him?” Dan rolled his eyes and said that they shouldn’t if they didn’t know for sure. After a bit of begging by Phil, Dan relented and sighed, telling Sam to hand him the forms. He filled out the form and passed it to Phil. “Dil, really?” Phil laughed.

Dan retaliated, “It was either that or Kanye. It’s not that bad, Phil.” The pair signed, with Phil leaving a little smiley face beside his name. Sam took the forms, explaining the month of time needed to process their information. Phil nodded and thanked Sam for all her help.

That was the last time Samantha saw the British boys alive.

A week later, the children’s home received a call from Dan, telling them not to expect their arrival at the end of the month. Phil, he explained, had gone missing and he was going to go find him. A month later, there was no word from the pair. After another month, everyone knew, Dan and Phil wouldn’t be coming back.


	3. Chapter 2-Let You Go

             Dil shooed away Tabitha’s hand. “I  _ can  _ find out what happened to them. They… they were nearly my parents.” Tabitha attempted to plead with him, but he stormed off into the children’s home. 

             Sam sighed, saying, “Just make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid.” Tabitha turned, and said nothing. Anyone could see the fear she was hiding behind her eyes. Dil was usually impulsive, but this ventured into dangerous territory.

             Dashing up the stairs, she could hear her friend grumbling to himself about something. When she opened the door, he was packing a bag in the corner of the room. Tabitha was the first to speak, saying, “Dil, you can’t possibly being doing this! You can’t survive by yourself. We haven’t got any money of our own.” She braced herself to the doorframe, preventing Dil’s exit. 

             “You could…” Dil mumbled, “You could survive.”

             “I’ve told you. I’m not doing that anymore.” Tabitha crossed her arms and gestured to the satchel, “What’ve you packed?”

             “All the evidence I need, clothes, toiletries-” Before he could finish, Tabitha tossed a plastic dinosaur into the bag. “What’s that for?”

             “Something to remember me by?” she shrugged, “Once you leave, you aren’t coming back. Make sure you remember me.” Dil asked why she wasn’t coming. Tabitha seemed more relaxed than Dil expected. “I’d rather not put my life on the line for some people who are already dead. This is a bad idea, Dil.” 

            “Tabitha… you’ve got to come with me. You can help me find them.”

            “How do you expect to find them? You don’t know where they lived or, more importantly, where they went.”

            Dil stood up, grabbing a make-shift casefile from his bag. “I have proof that something happened, and it was nearby. I think it has something to do with them.” He grabbed the newspaper and passed it to Tabitha. 

            She read it aloud, “‘Local teen missing, possibly abducted in the evening hours of the 28th. Details match those of the case of the abduction and presumed death of an arrival in the town, known only as Dan…’ Where was this?”

           “Brachshire, I think,” Dil ran his hand through his wavy hair and rubbed his eyes. Tabitha shook her head, insisting she couldn’t. Turning to leave, she apologized and walked towards the door… only to slam into another teenage standing there. That other teenager being the red-headed snob known as Eliza Pancakes. It baffled the others how she could be so haughty, despite being an orphan. Leaning against the doorframe, she blocked Tabitha’s exit, making the younger girl step away in silence. 

           “Runnin’ away?” Eliza raised an eyebrow. “I shoulda known…” She glanced from Dil’s satchel, to the papers in Tabitha's hands, and finally to the pair themselves. She smirked, gaining a devilish look, “I want in.”

           “No,” Tabitha retorted, putting her hands on her hips, “No ones's running away. Not today.” Eliza didn't reply, she only pointed to the bags and raised an eyebrow.

           “If you're not gettin’ out of here, then what are you doing?”

           Dil interjected, “That’s none of your business!”

           Tabitha rolled her eyes and answered Eliza’s question without so much as a second thought, “Theoretically, we would be going to find out what happened to Dil’s would-be adoptive parents. But I didn’t agree and we’re not going. Case closed.” Tabitha felt the urge to shove Eliza out of her way and storm through the door. She was usually a bit standoffish, but that would have been rude. Perhaps, she could talk everyone out this accident waiting to happen. She turned her attention to Dil and took a deep breath. “They are dead! There’s no use in finding them! No matter what you do, they’re not coming back!” she felt guilty shouting at Dil, but she felt it needed to be done. She was the only one who could bring him back to his senses. “You’re going to get yourself killed! And it will be my fault, because I let you go…”

\--*--

           “You’re going to get yourself killed!” 

           Dan’s reply came moments later, short and swift, “I know what I’m doing, PJ. I  _ will  _ find him.” Every second the argument dragged on, the more Dan wanted to curl up into a ball and sob. He knew his friend was right, but that didn’t stop his desperate pleading for Phil to return. PJ shook his head and sighed.

           “I know you think you understand, but this is serious. We could have a murderer on our hands, for all we know.” Dan’s eyes darted between his packed bags and PJ. A single glance back at his apartment showed how desolate it had become. Phil had been gone a month and it didn’t seem that Dan’s situation would be getting any better. 

           “Phil’s my life. I can’t just leave him in the hands of god-knows-who.”

           “You have a life outside of… that,” PJ hesitated, “You said so yourself. Besides, what will happen if you go missing too?” 

           Dan remained as cryptic as always, “If I die, I may as well go out doing something I care about.” That was when PJ insisted he couldn’t be serious. It was the mistake that many tend to make in regards to Dan Howell. Despite being a self-proclaimed “sarcastic little twat”, he was quite serious about things concerning Phil. Dan grabbed his backpack from the sofa and led PJ towards the door. PJ tried to protest, but couldn’t muster up the courage. He knew it would only upset Dan more. It was tragic.

           The door slammed behind PJ and Dan dashed up the stairs. He set up a camera and sat down on his bed. A little red light flashed, indicating that the recording had started. Dan struggled to smile when he said, “Hello internet. I have something serious to tell you about. It might scare you, but I think it’s better that you know…

           “Phil has been kidnapped.”


End file.
